I have never been able to figure out why Foley is such a polarizing character. I think he served his purpose int the film and had no problems with him or Modines performance. What exactly is it that some people didn't like about him?

He was clearly supposed to be a character that is an opportunistic ******* at the beginning who morphs into a selfless hero, as a statement of Batman's positive influence on *******s. Yes, he was that. But it just wasn't done well. It wasn't given enough attention. He sees Batman's flaming symbol and suddenly becomes a hero. Nolan also missed the chance to milk last minute sympathy for him by giving him a hilarious death.